ATEEZ 9th Member AU

Walk

Nari has some issues with her knee and Yeosang is there to help

Nari groaned in pain. They were preparing for their Asia Music Festival performance and they had been working harder than ever. Hongjoong was adamant that every move be perfected. Nari understood; all of them felt they had more to prove this year. They were quickly growing out of their "rookie" status to become full seasoned idols.

She didn't mind, everything was pretty much back to normal now. Jongho and her had grown closer since their little impromptu trip a few weeks ago. They had been hanging out more and more and he had been more aggressive with her at the gym, making sure that she was doing exercises to help strengthen her knee. But right now, it was just giving her pain.

It probably didn't help that she had an early acrobatics class with Byeol before coming to practice. Right now she felt like her knee would give out any second and when she did a particularly big jump, she swore it broke again. She knew it didn't, but boy did it hurt. And now Hongjoong wanted to redo that part of the choreography, saying that they weren't totally in sync.

"You doing alright?" Wooyoung asked her, holding out his hand and helping her stand up. She nodded slightly, then shook her head. "My knee is really hurting." He looked down and frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be wearing your brace?" She bit her lip, shrugging. "It may have broken a few days ago." Wooyoung scoffed, shaking his head. "Why didn't you say anything?! We could've gotten another one!"

"We're busy! I forgot. I'll be fine. Just—let's do this and then I'll ice it." He grunted, not convinced in any way that she should be doing this again, but he let it go. He knew she wanted to work just as hard and he knew she would say something if she really felt like she couldn't do it. He had to trust her. Just in case though, he ran over to their manager, briefly whispering in his ear and he nodded, walking out.

Nari raised a brow and Wooyoung smiled. "He's going to get you a new brace. Just take it easy until then." She nodded, grateful that Wooyoung asked him. They started again, going through the whole choreography. Nari jumped and when she landed her face scrunched up in pain. Maybe she should take a break for a minute. "That was great! But Nari?" She raised her head to Hongjoong when he called her name.

"Maybe you can do one of your cool flip things at this part while we all do the jump in the back? I think it would look cool. Just something simple." She nodded, happy to do whatever would help them stand out more. "Wait—" Hongjoong grabbed her arm as she tried not to limp towards the center, "—are you sure you can right now? We can wait." She shook her head, waving him off. "I'll ice it right after this, promise." He nodded and let her go.

She decided just to do a handspring for right now. Once she had her brace and iced her knee a little she would do something more complicated. The music started and she went and did her handspring, but when she landed, she collapsed to the ground. She held her knee to her chest, groaning in pain and feeling tears prick the corner of her eyes.

"Hey, hey," she heard someone coo and help her up. "C'mon, let's go get some ice." She opened her eyes as Yeosang wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean all her weight on him. "Thanks," she said quietly and he hummed. He slowly walked her out of the room and towards the lounge, making sure not to move to fast and at a pace that worked for her right now.

He sat her in a chair, walking to the freezer and taking out an ice pack. "Here," he handed it to her and she laid it across her knee, leaning back in the chair and closing her eyes. Yeosang pulled out the chair across from her and she peeked an eye open. "You don't have to wait for me, you can go back." He shook his head. "I needed a break anyways."

She raised a brow. Yeosang rarely took breaks, let alone stated he needed one. "Everything alright?" She asked and he nodded. "Just the stress of working my body to its limits and barely getting enough sleep." She hummed, knowing the feeling. "I'm sorry that I keep making us have to stop. For my stupid knee." Yeosang chuckled, patting her hand. "It's fine, Nar. We all knew this was going to happen. As long as you're taking care of it."

"Jongho's been giving me more exercises to help strengthen it. It feels like it's working. At least it's not swollen this time." He nodded, a smile on his face. "Maybe—we can go for walks every now and then. I mean, exercise is great and all, but I think it's fine to take a break and just give it light movement." She raised a brow. "You wanna go on walks? With me?" He scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" She shrugged, averting her eyes to the ice pack on her knee. "Honestly? I still don't think you like me very much. And after the issues with San—I just didn't think you'd really want to be around me." Yeosang frowned, feeling his stomach drop a little and his heart break. Did he really give her that impression? He sighed, leaning his chin onto his hands.

"I know I've been a shit friend. And I'm sorry for that. But—I've never—I've always liked you." His cheeks tinged pink a little before he cleared his throat and continued. "I'm just—awkward. Around everyone. And that sounds like a lame excuse but to be honest, I didn't think you'd want to be around me. For what I did." She shook her head, a small smile on her face.

"You're my family, Yeo. Whether I'm mad or sad because of you, you're always going to be my family. And yeah, you've been a shit friend. But maybe—maybe walks can make up for that." She winked and he chuckled.

"Walks it is, then."